HK41: Michelle Koller – US teen seamstress ends up building iconic furniture brand in HK

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𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:

“𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 [𝐻𝐾]. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠; 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡; 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦.“

“𝐵𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 16-17 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑙𝑑, 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠.”

“𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑤𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑎, 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑓𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛.”

“𝑊𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑠.”

“𝐻𝐾 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛. 𝐻𝐾 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒.”

“𝐴𝑠 𝑎 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑢𝑏 𝑒𝑙𝑏𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑.”

“𝐻𝐾 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑑𝑦𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐. 𝐼𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑠 ‘𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡’ 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦.”

𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞:

New Yorker, Michelle Koller founded Tequila Kola in 1991. Michelle is a graduate of Manhattan’s “Fashion Institute of Technology” (FIT). Her keen eye for color and design has been the driving force behind the growth of this iconic Hong Kong “home” brand.

From the initial small shop in the Princess building, the company has grown into a fabulous emporium full of unique furniture, fabric and accessories. Tequila Kola’s huge flagship showroom, located on the south side of Hong Kong Island, is a home decorator’s paradise. Beautiful striking displays of living room, bedroom and dining room furniture dominate the inspirational space. From stylish sofas to dramatic bedrooms to trendy accent furniture; each room setting helps your imagination come to life and create your perfect home. Tequila Kola sells both modern and antique furniture with bold and colorful patterns which creates a warm and inviting look and is family friendly. Tequila Kola also specializes in upholstering and reupholstering of old furniture.

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